Water Bottles
by TheSingingPterodactyl
Summary: "I just wish I had more food to work with." Connor said, Abby smiled at him and shrugged. "I thought the water bottles were a nice touch." - Abby and Connor have been stuck in the Cretaceous for three months and their struggle hits an even harder tole when Abby becomes ill. Can Connor bring a brighter side to their situation? Please R


**Disclaimer: Primeval and its characters are property of Impossible Pictures, no copyright intended. **

**A/N: I just really wanted to write a short of Connor and Abby in the Cretaceous that happened a little differently than most. Please Read and Review, I always love to hear what you guys think! -**

** I just edited this some, since it's been one of my first stories to ever post I thought it could use some polishing. Especially since the "Hem" and "Anything for You" were in much better in condition. **

* * *

"Connor!" the ground under them rumbled and quivered. "Connor, wake your lazy rear up!" Connor rolled over with a groan, his eyes sought Abby's frustrated face as his blurred vision cured itself. "Conn, **_get up_** for god's sake!"

The sun gazed the horizon and the eerie silence around him was unsettling. Abby continued to yell until finally she was knocked off her feet from the large quake that shot her down. "Connor, that thing saw me! You've gotta get up!" Everything around him felt slow and fuzzy, but finally when Abby's face came clear to him his feet darted up to the ground and looked her in the eyes.

"What is it this time?" Connor asked, feeling the earth beneath them tremble from every step the dinosaur took. He gave out a hand to help her up and she jerked up, holding onto his shoulder to keep balance.

"Couldn't say, from the view I had- I'd say an Acrocanthosaurus." Abby answered, Connor sighed.

"Oh, that's fun."

"Don't you just love the Cretaceous in the morning?" Abby remarked, Connor laughed and turned to see her packing up.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just getting a few things. Listen, we need to get out from the back, running east will probably be our best bet."

"Abs, we both agreed we don't leave the sight. The anomaly could open at any minute-"

"Connor! That thing saw me close enough to where it most likely has my scent, it will follow me here as it already has and destroy the sight we've spent months building. We can come back when it's safe, eh?"

"But the anomaly could open. If it does then we're stuck here forever."

"I highly doubt that, Conn. I'm sorry, but it hasn't opened for three months, the likeliness of it opening when we're gone is slim. And if it does then it was miss our shot in probably finding ourselves into the Jurassic or saving our butts before we were eaten alive." Connor looked down, he knew she was right, but he didn't want to risk it. The quakes below them stopped and every predator surrounding the territory stayed hushed. They looked at each other, fear in their eyes- Abby quietly grabbed her bag and gave Connor a questioning look.

Another shake practically brought them off their feet, the creature was right outside. Connor picked up the first aid kit and they made a run for the back; him still feeling regret for what he had just done. As they swooped through the trees and dodged the birds that flew to their heads, Connor couldn't help but want to go back. His head looked behind him, but before long he snapped it back ahead. It was his and Abby's life, or one small chance that that a slit in the fabric of time opened right as the dinosaur tore the shelter to pieces. If Abby was hurt because of him, he wouldn't know what to do- so no looking back.

Finally, running about a mile from their camp, Connor stopped at a shaded tree to take a few breaths and let his heart rate slow. Abby sunk down under at the trunk, gasping for air; Connor sat down beside her and chuckled.

"Wha'?" she asked, half curious and half annoyed. Connor's eyes cut to the side, seeing her blond, tangled up hair falling in her face and her ripped up jeans cramped up to her petite figure. Her neck bent to him, she smiled and shook her head. "Morning jog, right?"

"Yeah, guess it gets us in the routine for when we get home." Connor joked. Abby looked down, hating it when he mentioned going home. Abby knew that anomaly was never going to open again. It was a man made anomaly in the first place, no way would it ever reopen- and if did, there's a chance it wouldn't even stay open long enough for them to go through. But Abby couldn't say any of that to Connor, because his hope came from the thought of it reopening one day. Without Connor's hope, she'd have no idea how to deal with being there. He kept them going.

"Should we keep going?" Connor asked her, she looked around and shrugged.

"Why not stay here for the afternoon? It's actually sorta pretty…"

"For the Cretaceous." She snickered and stood up to look around.

"It seems pretty secluded."

"And in addition, we've got prehistoric fruit." Connor observed as he gawked up into the trees. Abby eyes gazed above her, seeing trees surrounding them of all kinds of sizes of an odd, plump, green fruit that hung from the leaves.

"You think we can eat them?" Abby said amazed, at last finding food possibly worth eating. Connor stood up beside her and glanced around.

"I don't see any sign of them being poisonous."

"How can you tell?" she alleged.

"Well, do you see any remains of a rotting dinosaur carcass?" Abby rolled her eyes and picked a fruit off the closest branch near her.

"You're knowledge will never cease to amaze me, Connor."

* * *

The night was falling close behind as Connor and Abby made their way back to the camp site. Damage had been done, but not to the severe, and from what they could tell the Acrocanthosaurus was long gone. A sigh of relief escaped Connor, with a loud outburst he raised up Abby in a hug and placed her back to the ground with a dance in his step. Abby was just as happy as he, too much work went into their shelter for it to be torn down now. They made their way into the shelter to flop onto their moss and leaf made palates that sat side by side and Abby groaned.

"I had it in my head that these would be more comfy." Connor stated, Abby laid on her back amused, but saying nothing. "You okay?" he asked as he squeezed her hand, knowing through all the jokes and the teases between them, it was still hard. They weren't home, they weren't anywhere near home – and he knew there would never be a day where they could find it easy to keep on going.

"Yeah." Without any notion why she pulled her hand away from his and turned to her side.

"Abs,-"

"Can I just have a quiet night's sleep, Connor? For once?" she snapped, Connor pulled away from her and stood up from the bed.

"Yeah, course." He walked out of the shelter and threw some wood for a fire. Searching around for their matches they had left from utility pack he saw Abby walk out in the corner of his eye. "Hey-"

"What is your problem?" Abby hissed, Connor put down the pack and raised his hands like he surrendered.

"Oi, fine, I won't use the matches!"

"I don't care about the matches Connor, I want to know what your problem is!"

"I … I … Abby, where is this coming from?"

"It's coming from you and I, I kissed you, you never made one move again – since we didn't have much time in between from being home to being stuck here it's one thing. But we've had enough here, Connor!"

"What did you want me to do?"

"I don't know- be a man for once! Ask me for dinner!"

"I didn't think you wanted me to-"

"But you act like you want something else than just friends, Connor! You do so many infuriating things! And I may not be the best of examples but at least I put myself out there!"

"What do you want me to do? Ask you out for dinner now? Ask you to be my girlfriend as we run from a raptor?"

"You could at least make your bloody feelings clear!"

"I thought I had!" then as Connor shouted his last words, Abby felt faint. Connor saw as the color in her skin drained from her complexion, she started to stumble and Connor ran to her before she could fall.

"Abby, what's wrong?"

"I… I don't know… I feel…" Abby looked up at him in the eyes and cupped her hand to his cheek. "I'm sorry."

"Shh, shh. You're fine. You always yell at me, for good reasons too." She smiled at him and dropped her hand as she felt weaker.

"Conn?"

"Yeah, Abs?"

"I think I … I…" her body became limp in Connor's arms. He picked her up and carried her into the shelter of the camp, laying her on the palates. Trying to keep away from any thoughts of what was wrong, or how to even survive without her if she didn't make it; Connor covered her with the foil blanket and blinked away any tears.

"You're going to be okay, Abs. I promise."

* * *

Abby's sleeping physique lay still beside him, her breathing had become shallow and steady and her fever had finally sweated away, but she hadn't woken up. Connor sat Indian Style with a weapon lying in his lap, the dark sags under his eyes made clear how little sleep he's had since Abby fell unconscious. His head leaned against the tree that reigned over their camp site, its base planted into the shelter. Connor's eyes rested and his head ran with thoughts he tried to steer clear from.

_"What is she never wakes up?" "What if it happens again?" "How will I survive?" "How can I cope without her?" _he tried to shake away the roaming thoughts but was unsuccessful. His mind went to what Abby said; he knew that from the fruit she had eaten that day it had caused her to become hysterical, seeing from the tests he did on other creatures; but she still meant what she said. Connor knew what she said was true, but he didn't know what she wanted. Abby's always so closed off when it comes to those things- not that he's not much better himself. And since they've been here he didn't want to do anything, afraid it would make being in the Cretaceous worse than it already was. Now what would he do if she didn't make it and he never told her...?

Connor's head jilted up from the bark of the tree he leaned against, his eyes watched Abby as she squirmed to her side and peacefully sighed. "Abby?" Connor voiced. Her face winced and her eyelids shuttered open.

"…Connor?" she said in confusion as she felt the warm sun beaming onto her skin and the blanket wrapped around her waist down. Connor grinned at her as she attempted to sit up. Seeing the Cretaceous wasn't the thing she was hoping to see from all her nice quaint dreams of Connor and her being in their flat with Rex, Sid and Nancy, watching some silly movie or eating dinner.

"What… what happened?"

"Turns out the fruit you ate **_was_** slightly poisonous." Connor informed, seeing her face drench in panic.

"Am I going to be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I fed it to a few creatures around here, it made them sick and somewhat rabid, but it didn't kill them." Connor assured, leaving out the part about them falling unconscious afterwards and tending to never come out of their sleep.

"Rabid?" she worried, looking at Connor puzzled, but then it hit her. The night when she fainted flashed through her memory like a ton of bricks. Her head thrust down to the moss filled pillow and she covered her face with her hands. She let out a growl and grumbled something to herself that Connor couldn't quite make out.

Connor smiled at her, perfectly alive and well. He had no reason to let tears run down his face but seeing her okay felt like a knife had just disappeared from his side, just the relief and joy made him mawkish. He reached for the water bottle he had refilled up from the creek and handed it to her; she looked over and gently took it into her grasp. "Thank you, Connor." She said to him, but he made no answer. "Connor?"

"Yeah, course. Just water." He replied, trying not to look at her. She sat up from her palate, still feeling ill, and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"I mean for what you did, you took care of me. Thank you." Connor turned to her, still bottling up any tears that wanted to emerge and smiled at her.

"Anything for you." This time the smile was forced through his words, though. Not that he wasn't happy but fighting the will to cry caused trouble in appearing to be fine. She gripped his hand and smiled at the ground, thinking about how long they'd been here and they still were both miraculously alive. Then something dawned on her.

"How long was I out?" Connor couldn't stand to hear that question. He sunk his face into the palm of his hands and sat there, trying to keep it together.

"'Bout four to five days. I somehow got water down you and some food, not very easy, but I managed." He answered, not looking up but bringing his hands through his hair. Abby was amazed she was out for so long, and how he was acting, he almost expected it to be longer.

"Conn, what's wrong?" Abby asked in a soothing voice as she rubbed his arm. With a deep breath he looked up at her, plastering that smile on his face once again.

"Nothin', just tired, yeah? Haven't gotten much sleep." he solaced. A strand of her hair hung in her face, without even thinking he brushed it away from her eyes and let tear well up in his. "You got no idea how happy I am that you're okay." Abby softly smiled and swiped the tear from his face with her thumb.

"Worried, huh?" Connor laughed a little as she just smiled and he let out an exhale as he looked back down to his lap.

"Just a bit."

"Well you shouldn't have." Abby said with a slight tone, but when his head struck up to see her face she was still smiling at him. "I couldn't ever break our deal." Connor laughed through his nose and nodded.

"You better not, I did everything I could not to break it myself."

"Well, the punishments are severe- there better never be any thoughts about breaking it."

"Yes ma'am." Abby laughed this time but her smile faded, thinking about what she said to him that night- what she said was just horrible.

"Erm, Connor… I want to say-"

"You don't have to say it, Abby." He stopped her and went on with his own speech. "Everything you said was right, I've been an idiot about things and if anyone should apologize it should be me, shouldn't it? Haven't been the greatest of mates lately."

"Nothing I said was true, Connor! Everything I said was horrible and I**_ feel_** horrible for saying any of it."

"You weren't in your right mind, Abby. The poison got to you, started messing with your head, making you think things that may have not been hundred percent true."

"But Connor I still said them, and for that reason I want to say I'm sorry." She took both of his hands and squeezed them tight; she smiled and took a deep breath in.

"I'm sorry, too." He told her. Abby wanted to argue and say he had no reason to apologize, but she knew it would do no good. "I mean it, too. You were right 'bout how I never did anything after you kissed me… I should have kissed you back or asked you for dinner or-"

"None of that matters now, Connor. It was the past, and now we need to focus on surviving and having each other." She assured him. Connor nodded in agreement and started to stand up, but he couldn't find the strength in his legs to bring himself to it.

"How much sleep did you get when I was out?" Abby questioned him. Connor looked at her and shook his head.

"I got enough, didn't I? You need to rest some more before you take next watch-"

"Forget about shifts for now, Connor. You need some sleep and I've had plenty of it. Lay down and I'll listen, if I hear anything I'll wake you."

"But-"

"Don't argue, Connor." Connor sighed and lay down on the palate placed beside hers. Abby pulled up her blanket and shivered; Connor glanced at her and smiled.

"What?" she said with a smile as well.

"We should huddle together for warmth." Abby let a laugh burst out, remembering the day he said that a little too well. Connor laughed with her until he saw her face change from a grin to pain.

"What's wrong?" he grasped her arm and looked her in the eyes.

"Nothing, I'm just not feeling very well." She answered, her eyes still sparkling and a glow still to her face.

"Let me get you some water-"

"Connor, it's fine." She pulled him down before he could get away and laid back down beside her. His face was full of concern and he was scared she was going to get worse. Abby gave a comforting smile and he relaxed his hand on her cheek as she lay beside him.

"I can't let you get sick again. I won't."

"I'm fine, Conn. Just stay with me." She asked him as she settled her head on his chest. Her arm stretched out across him and she listened to his breathing fall light and listened to his heartbeat stay secure and constant. They rested there until night fell, content and happy being in each other's arms. Abby's thoughts raced through her mind like thousands of lightning bolts, thinking about everything she possibly could. She thought about home, she thought about Connor and her. She worried about Connor's sanity for when the day came that he realized all hope in going home was gone- Connor was always a positive person, if he gave up hope it might change him for good.

When night fell near Abby found herself drifting off to sleep, the reassuring sound of Connor's heartbeat and the feel of his chest rising and falling made her more sleepy than she realized, until finally, she was asleep. Not too long after Abby had fallen asleep did Connor wake up from the sound of rustling outside the shelter. He wiggled his way out of Abby's embrace and grabbed his weapon that he had sitting beside the exit; Connor peered his head out to see some sort of mutant looking bird hopping about the camp. If he was awake enough he'd probably be able to say what it was.

"You should be glad you're cute. Sorta." Connor grimaced at the creature as it flew away from the site of him. He looked to see the stars were just coming out and the cool night was starting to get a bite; his eyes glanced over to the fire and then something dawned on him. He looked for some firewood and ran around, trying to get it done before Abby awoke.

* * *

Abby's eyes jolted open and panic rang through her. She looked around her and saw Connor nowhere in sight, fearing something had happened to him.

"Connor?" she stood up, hearing no answer she rushed out of the shelter to see him sitting beside the fire with a bucket they had made out of whatever they could find. She saw a blanket on the ground with a pile of the green poisonous fruit and two water bottles placed side by side. "What's this?" Connor jumped, he turned to see Abby ogling the little set up and he smiled at her.

"You're awake!" he announced, she gave a laugh and nodded.

"Am I?" Abby questioned jokingly, Connor laughed and came up to her. "You made food."

"I made dinner." He corrected. Abby looked at him with an odd expression, he just smiled and cleared his throat. "Abby Maitland, will you go out to dinner with me?" Abby then realized what this was coming from. She beamed at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Connor hugged her back and she whispered 'of course' in his ear. Pulling back she shook her head.

"You can be so cheesy." she teased him, Connor laughed and took her hand.

"Our meal tonight is the gourmet dish, radici!"

"Sounds fancy! What is it?" he showed her the bucket and she laughed. "Bulbs."

"Radici is Italian for roots." Abby smiled at him and brought the bucket to the cloth on the ground.

"Are we also eating poisonous fruit tonight?" she asked him as he made his way to the blanket that had a stack of fruit in the center of the set up.

"They might be bad for us, but they look nice, yeah?" Connor excused as he sat beside her and she laughed. "I know you said not to worry abou' it, but I … I had to do something."

"No you didn't, but thank you. It's very sweet." She intertwined her fingers with his and picked up the water bottle at her side, set up as if wine glasses.

"I just wish I had more food to work with."

"I thought the water bottles were a nice touch." They both smiled at each other and went on to their eating, enjoying each other's company, and not having to say anything else. Not even those three words they felt most.


End file.
